Livingstone and Brevis Tear Through Phoenix as London Spirit Finally Find Their Night at Lord’s

London Spirit waited until their season was effectively over to produce the kind of performance their expensive new era was supposed to deliver from the beginning.

Liam Livingstone smashed 66 from only 30 balls, Dewald Brevis struck an unbeaten 55 from 31, and Spirit chased Birmingham Phoenix’s 162 for four in only 82 deliveries to win Match 28 of The Hundred Men’s Competition 2026 by seven wickets at Lord’s on August 9.

The margin was emphatic.

Eighteen balls remained when Brevis drove Rehan Ahmed through the off side for the boundary that ended the contest.

One delivery earlier, the South African had powered another four through extra cover to complete his maiden half-century in The Hundred.

Livingstone had already done most of the damage.

The Spirit captain reached fifty from only 21 balls and eventually made 66 from 30, striking seven fours and four sixes at a strike rate of 220.

Together, Livingstone and Brevis added 103 for the third wicket and transformed a chase that began with Jonny Bairstow being bowled by Saqib Mahmood after only four deliveries.

Spirit reached 166 for three from 82 balls, scoring at more than two runs per delivery and handing Phoenix their sixth defeat in seven matches.

There was historical significance too.

This was London Spirit’s first victory over Birmingham Phoenix in the men’s Hundred since the competition began.

It did little for Spirit’s qualification prospects. They had already left themselves too much work after five defeats in their opening six matches.

For Birmingham, the evening added another entry to a season that has gone badly wrong.

Phoenix remain bottom of the standings with only four points from seven matches, despite beginning their campaign with a 10-run victory over tournament leaders Trent Rockets.

The Sports Encounter has followed that collapse closely. Phoenix were recently beaten comfortably by Trent Rockets at Trent Bridge before SunRisers Leeds dismantled them by 45 runs at Edgbaston.

Lord’s brought another defeat, but this one looked different.

Phoenix actually scored 162.

The problem was that Spirit treated it like a target closer to 130.

London Spirit vs Birmingham Phoenix: Match 28 at a Glance

Match Detail	Information
Competition	The Hundred Men’s Competition 2026
Match	London Spirit vs Birmingham Phoenix, Match 28
Date	August 9, 2026
Venue	Lord’s, London
Toss	London Spirit won the toss and elected to field
Birmingham Phoenix	162/4 from 100 balls
London Spirit	166/3 from 82 balls
Result	London Spirit won by seven wickets
Balls Remaining	18
Match Hero	Liam Livingstone, 66 from 30 balls
Phoenix Top Scorer	Joe Clarke, 73 from 42 balls
Spirit Support	Dewald Brevis, 55* from 31 balls
Points	London Spirit 4, Birmingham Phoenix 0

Phoenix Spend 44 Balls Going Nowhere

Birmingham’s final total looks respectable.

The route to it explains why Livingstone thought it was not enough.

Mitchell Owen fell for six after 12 balls when Adam Milne bowled him.

Joe Weatherley then struggled badly for rhythm, scoring six from 14 deliveries at a strike rate of only 42.85.

Laurie Evans made seven from five.

After 44 balls, Phoenix were 46 for three.

That is where the innings was lost.

Joe Clarke eventually produced a superb 73 from 42 balls, while Sean Dickson finished unbeaten on 51 from 28. Donovan Ferreira added a frantic 14 not out from five deliveries.

Those contributions dragged Phoenix to 162.

They could not recover the balls already consumed.

The powerplay told Spirit everything they needed to know

Phoenix managed only 25 runs from their first 25 deliveries while losing Owen.

Forty-four balls into the innings, they still had only 46.

That left Clarke and Dickson with an enormous acceleration job.

They nearly pulled it off.

Clarke reached fifty from 30 deliveries after hitting four sixes during the first part of his recovery.

Dickson was even more aggressive late in the innings, reaching his half-century from 27 balls.

The pair added a 50-run stand in only 27 deliveries and moved Phoenix from 46 for three into a position from which 160 became possible.

The recovery deserves credit.

The early stagnation still mattered more.

Joe Clarke Gives Phoenix a Total to Defend

Clarke’s innings was easily Birmingham’s most convincing batting performance of the evening.

He struck four fours and five sixes.

His 73 represented almost half Phoenix’s total before Crocombe dismissed him on the 91st delivery.

The innings also continued Clarke’s role as one of the few Birmingham batters consistently capable of carrying the order during their difficult campaign.

Earlier in the tournament, he scored 62 from 45 in the defeat to Trent Rockets, accounting for more than half his team’s 111 for six.

That match exposed Phoenix’s dependence on individual innings.

Lord’s did the same thing in a different way.

Clarke was excellent.

Dickson was excellent.

For too long, almost nobody else contributed enough.

Dickson’s late acceleration changed the scoreboard, not the match

Sean Dickson deserves particular credit for understanding what Birmingham needed.

He attacked rather than attempting to rebuild conventionally.

His unbeaten 51 contained four fours and three sixes and came at a strike rate above 182.

Ferreira then scored 14 from the final five balls he faced.

Phoenix reached 150 from 97 deliveries and finished on 162.

At another venue, against another batting order, 162 might have created pressure.

Livingstone later said Spirit believed Phoenix were under par.

The chase proved him right.

Spirit’s Bowlers Won the Match Before Livingstone Finished It

The scoreboard will naturally pull attention toward the chase.

Spirit’s bowling deserves more credit.

Their main success was not taking wickets in bunches.

It was preventing Phoenix from creating momentum early.

David Willey conceded 30 from his 20 balls.

James Coles gave away only 25 and dismissed Evans.

Mason Crane conceded 26 while removing Weatherley.

Milne took one for 36.

Henry Crocombe was used for only five deliveries but produced three dot balls and dismissed Clarke.

The bowling figures themselves were not spectacular.

The collective effect was.

Spirit forced Phoenix to spend too much of the innings recovering.

Livingstone described the first 40 balls as especially important after the match.

That assessment matches the scorecard.

Bairstow Falls Immediately, and Spirit Attack Anyway

Spirit’s response started badly.

Jonny Bairstow faced only three deliveries.

He hit one four and one six.

Then Saqib Mahmood bowled him.

Ten runs from three balls had already announced Spirit’s intention.

Bairstow’s dismissal did not change it.

Lhuan-dre Pretorius made 16 from 11 before Jordan Thompson removed him at 43 for two after 22 balls.

Spirit had lost two wickets inside the powerplay.

They had also scored 48.

That was the difference between the two innings.

Phoenix used their first 25 balls to score 25.

Spirit scored 48.

Those 23 runs created freedom for everything that followed.

Livingstone Finally Produces the Chase Spirit Needed All Season

Livingstone arrived with a clear plan.

No repair job.

No waiting for the game to settle.

No letting Birmingham’s spinners dictate tempo.

He attacked.

His fifty came from only 21 balls and included five fours and three sixes.

By the time he reached the milestone, Spirit had already broken the chase open.

Livingstone finished with seven fours and four sixes.

Only 15 of his 30 deliveries failed to produce a boundary.

His strike rate of 220 was comfortably the highest among the major contributors in the match.

There was something personal about the innings too

Livingstone spent the previous five seasons with Birmingham Phoenix before joining London Spirit for 2026.

Phoenix therefore knew exactly how destructive he could become.

They simply could not stop him.

There was some irony in Spirit’s most complete chase of the season being driven by the man so closely associated with Birmingham’s earlier Hundred campaigns.

His 66 also continued a tournament in which individual performances have often survived even when Spirit’s team results have not.

Livingstone had already made 69 from 40 in Spirit’s narrow opening defeat to Manchester Super Giants at Lord’s.

Against Phoenix, the captain finally received enough support for the innings to matter.

Dewald Brevis Turns Support Role Into a Match-Winning Fifty

Calling Brevis the supporting batter almost understates what he did.

Livingstone brought the violence.

Brevis ensured Phoenix never recovered.

He finished unbeaten on 55 from 31 deliveries, with five fours and three sixes.

The innings was his first fifty in The Hundred.

Brevis and Livingstone added 50 from only 25 deliveries.

The century partnership arrived after 46 balls.

That is extraordinary acceleration in a 100-ball chase.

Once the pair established themselves, Phoenix were defending space rather than genuinely defending the target.

Livingstone later called Brevis a tremendous talent who hits the ball as cleanly as anyone in world cricket.

The compliment made sense after watching the South African finish the match.

Brevis reached fifty and won the game almost simultaneously

Rehan Ahmed delivered the final sequence.

Brevis drilled him through extra cover for four to reach his maiden Hundred fifty.

He then went again.

Another boundary through the off side.

Game over.

Spirit had reached 166 for three from 82 balls.

They did not merely chase 163.

They dismantled it.

The Livingstone-Brevis Partnership Broke Phoenix

Partnership Metric	Figure
Third-wicket partnership	103 runs
Partnership balls	47
Livingstone contribution	Approximately half of the partnership
Brevis contribution	45-plus runs during the stand
Spirit score after 50 balls	103/2
Spirit score after 70 balls	150/3
Target reached	82 balls

What made the partnership so effective was the absence of a quiet end.

Phoenix could not focus on containing Livingstone because Brevis attacked.

They could not protect themselves against Brevis because Livingstone kept clearing boundaries.

That is exactly what Spirit have struggled to create during much of the season.

One dangerous batter has often been left carrying too much responsibility.

This time there were two.

Usman Tariq Was Birmingham’s One Bowling Bright Spot

It is easy to lose Usman Tariq’s spell inside a seven-wicket defeat.

It deserves recognition.

The spinner conceded only 13 runs from 20 deliveries and produced 11 dot balls.

Those are exceptional control numbers in a chase where Spirit scored 166 from 82 balls.

Every other major Phoenix bowler went at more than two runs per delivery except Donovan Ferreira, who bowled only five balls for four.

Saqib Mahmood took Bairstow’s wicket but conceded 42 from 15.

Tom Helm dismissed Livingstone and gave away 31 from 15.

Jordan Thompson conceded 24 from 10.

Rehan went for 31 from 12.

Mitchell Owen’s five deliveries cost 17.

Tariq was operating in a different match.

Phoenix simply had no way to build pressure around him.

Phoenix’s Season Has Gone From Bad to Historically Poor

The standings now make unpleasant reading.

Birmingham have one win from seven.

Six defeats.

Four points.

A net run rate of -1.496.

No realistic qualification route remains.

The remarkable part is where the campaign began.

Phoenix opened by beating Trent Rockets by 10 runs.

Trent have since become the tournament’s dominant team and sit top with six wins from seven.

Birmingham went in the opposite direction.

They lost by 87 runs to Manchester Super Giants.

They were beaten by Southern Brave.

Welsh Fire defeated them.

Trent took revenge at Trent Bridge.

SunRisers Leeds won by 45 runs at Edgbaston.

Now London Spirit, another eliminated side, have beaten them with 18 deliveries unused.

This is no longer a qualification failure.

It is a season that requires structural examination.

Why Birmingham’s Batting Keeps Putting the Bowlers Under Pressure

The pattern has changed from match to match, but the broader problem remains recognizable.

Against Trent Rockets, Phoenix made only 111 for six.

Against SunRisers Leeds, they were restricted to 124 for eight after collapsing to 23 for three.

Against Spirit, the final total improved to 162.

The first half of the innings still created pressure.

A strong franchise batting lineup cannot repeatedly require one player to rescue the innings.

Clarke has done it.

Dickson has done it.

The broader order has not produced enough collective rhythm.

That explains why Phoenix can occasionally post a competitive number while rarely feeling in control.

Spirit’s Win Comes Too Late, but It Still Matters for Andy Flower and Mo Bobat

The 2026 season was supposed to mark a new era for London Spirit.

Andy Flower arrived as head coach.

Mo Bobat became central to the cricket operation.

The squad was rebuilt through The Hundred’s new ownership and auction structure.

James Coles became one of the headline domestic investments.

Livingstone arrived as captain.

Bairstow joined the batting core.

Brevis brought international franchise pedigree.

The results never matched the ambition.

Spirit lost five of their first six games and became one of the tournament’s first eliminated teams.

Their campaign included the extraordinary night at Headingley when SunRisers Leeds piled up a Hundred-record 241 for two despite Spirit themselves reaching 200 in reply.

They then suffered another painful defeat when Sikandar Raza carried MI London through a Lord’s chase.

The Phoenix victory therefore cannot rescue the season.

It can give Flower and Bobat evidence of what the batting structure might look like when the top order plays with the aggression the format demands.

Spirit Finally Played the Powerplay They Have Been Talking About

Livingstone’s post-match explanation was revealing.

Spirit had been discussing the need to become more positive during the powerplay.

They had not consistently executed it.

Against Phoenix, they did.

Forty-eight runs from the opening 25 balls changed everything.

The powerplay also offers an interesting connection to The Sports Encounter’s broader examination of the competition.

Our analysis of whether The Hundred’s 100-ball structure contributes to its crowd problem noted how the format rewards teams that create immediate pressure rather than treating the first phase like a shortened T20 rebuild.

Spirit illustrated that perfectly.

Phoenix scored 25 from their first 25.

Spirit scored 48.

That gap effectively decided the match before Livingstone reached fifty.

No Empty-Stand Story at Lord’s This Time

The crowd question has become impossible to separate from The Hundred’s 2026 season.

The Sports Encounter recently reported how large areas of empty seating were visible at Trent Bridge during Birmingham Phoenix’s defeat to Trent Rockets, despite an official attendance of 11,988.

Broader early-season reporting also showed a significant attendance decline across several men’s fixtures compared with 2025.

Lord’s presented a very different picture on Sunday.

BBC Test Match Special reported that the double-header produced a record crowd for a group-stage match of The Hundred at Lord’s.

An exact verified attendance figure was not available in the accessible official match reports at the time of publication, so The Sports Encounter is not attaching an unsupported number to the claim.

Livingstone’s own reaction supported the sense of a strong atmosphere.

“The crowd’s been amazing. I’ve absolutely loved my time down here… the supporters have been amazing, so it’s been special.”

That matters because the attendance debate requires nuance.

The Hundred clearly has crowd challenges at several venues.

Our recent analysis of Babar Azam’s commercial impact on the Big Bash League explored whether stronger global star power could help address them.

Lord’s demonstrates that demand is not uniformly weak.

The challenge is reproducing that energy consistently outside the strongest London dates and marquee venues.

Lord’s Offers a Useful Counterpoint to the Attendance Debate

This is an important distinction.

Empty seats at one ground do not prove the competition is collapsing.

A record Lord’s crowd does not prove the attendance issue has disappeared either.

Different venues are currently telling different stories.

London has generally remained one of The Hundred’s stronger markets.

Earlier in the season, London Spirit’s opening home double-header against Manchester Super Giants drew 23,847 spectators at Lord’s.

Other venues have struggled more visibly with empty sections and price sensitivity.

The question for the tournament is therefore increasingly geographical and commercial rather than simply numerical.

Why does one fixture feel like an event while another struggles to fill similar inventory?

The competition’s new private owners will eventually have to answer that.

Updated Men’s Hundred 2026 Points Table After Match 28

Pos.	Team	Played	Won	Lost	Points	NRR
1	Trent Rockets (Q)	7	6	1	24	+0.890
2	SunRisers Leeds	7	5	2	20	+1.094
3	Manchester Super Giants	7	4	3	16	+0.495
4	MI London	7	4	3	16	+0.262
5	Welsh Fire	7	4	3	16	-1.001
6	Southern Brave (E)	7	2	5	8	-0.053
7	London Spirit (E)	7	2	5	8	-0.151
8	Birmingham Phoenix (E)	7	1	6	4	-1.496

Q = qualified. E = eliminated.

Trent Rockets have already secured qualification and remain top.

SunRisers Leeds strengthened their position earlier on Sunday with a huge 71-run win over Welsh Fire. The Sports Encounter’s Match 27 report explains how Mitchell Marsh and Brydon Carse pushed Leeds to 20 points.

Behind them, Manchester Super Giants, MI London and Welsh Fire remain locked on 16 points.

The qualification race therefore remains alive above Spirit and Phoenix even though Match 28 itself involved two sides already near the bottom.

What the Result Means for London Spirit

Spirit move to eight points from seven matches.

They remain seventh because Southern Brave have the better net run rate.

Their final fixture comes against Welsh Fire on August 12.

There is no playoff rescue available.

The focus has changed.

Spirit can finish with a third victory, potentially move off seventh, and influence the qualification hopes of a Welsh Fire side still fighting with Manchester and MI London.

More importantly, Livingstone, Brevis, Pretorius and the rest of the batting group can establish something usable for 2027.

This season has provided too few nights like Sunday.

What the Result Means for Birmingham Phoenix

Phoenix are mathematically eliminated and rooted to the bottom.

Their final match is against MI London at Edgbaston on August 12.

A victory would not save the campaign.

It could seriously damage MI London’s qualification bid.

Birmingham therefore still possess some influence over the tournament.

They also have bigger questions to answer once the season ends.

Why did a squad capable of beating Trent Rockets in its opening match lose six consecutive games?

Why has the batting repeatedly become dependent on individual rescues?

Why have bowlers been left defending totals or situations that provide almost no margin for error?

Those questions matter more than whether Phoenix finish with four or eight points.

Livingstone Against His Former Team Was the Story Spirit Needed

Franchise tournaments often manufacture rivalries before supporters genuinely feel them.

Livingstone’s performance contained something more natural.

He had represented Phoenix throughout The Hundred’s first five seasons.

Now he was captaining Spirit against them at Lord’s.

He made 66 from 30.

He caught Joe Clarke.

He collected the Match Hero award.

Spirit beat Birmingham for the first time in competition history.

That gives the result an identity beyond two eliminated teams completing the schedule.

TSE Analysis: Spirit Won Because They Understood the Chase Before Phoenix Understood the Pitch

The most revealing line from Livingstone’s post-match interview concerned Phoenix’s total.

Spirit thought 162 was below par.

At first glance, that might sound aggressive.

The chase supports it.

This was a surface on which Clarke scored at 173.80.

Dickson scored at 182.14.

Livingstone reached 220.

Brevis finished at 177.41.

Bairstow scored 10 from three balls.

The pitch rewarded positive batting once players committed.

Phoenix discovered that too late.

Spirit began with that knowledge.

The difference was not simply that London had better hitters.

It was that London treated the first 25 balls like an opportunity.

Birmingham treated them like a problem to solve.

The 23-Run Powerplay Gap Explains Everything

Team	Powerplay Score	Wickets
Birmingham Phoenix	25	1
London Spirit	48	2

Spirit lost one more wicket during the powerplay.

They still emerged 23 runs ahead.

That is the kind of trade-off modern short-form teams increasingly accept.

Wickets have value.

Balls also have value.

A 100-ball innings exaggerates that relationship.

Weatherley’s six from 14 was therefore more expensive than the raw score suggests.

Those 14 deliveries represented 14 percent of Birmingham’s entire innings.

Livingstone needed only 30 balls to score 66.

The contrast could hardly be clearer.

Brevis Is Giving London Spirit a Reason to Think Beyond 2026

The 22-year-old South African remains one of world cricket’s most naturally destructive young batters.

His Hundred campaign has provided Spirit with flashes of exactly why franchises keep investing in him.

Sunday’s fifty was the clearest example.

The more interesting question is what comes next.

Spirit’s season has exposed the danger of constantly relying on isolated star performances.

If Brevis can become a consistent middle-order partner for Livingstone rather than an occasional source of fireworks, Spirit’s batting becomes structurally different.

The partnership at Lord’s offered a glimpse.

Phoenix Need More Than Another Auction

The Hundred’s new ownership era has made squad changes easier to imagine.

Money exists.

Players move.

Coaches change.

Auction strategy can be revised.

Birmingham’s problems cannot automatically be solved by buying different names.

The campaign suggests problems in role definition and batting tempo as much as raw talent.

Joe Clarke can score.

Sean Dickson can finish.

Rehan Ahmed offers all-round value.

Saqib Mahmood remains a high-level pace bowler.

Usman Tariq showed again at Lord’s that he can control an innings.

The pieces are not worthless.

They have rarely operated together.

The Hundred’s Wider Attendance Debate Needs More Nights Like This

The irony of Match 28 is difficult to miss.

Two of the bottom three men’s teams produced one of Lord’s strongest group-stage crowd stories.

That suggests supporters do not always need a qualification scenario to attend.

Venue matters.

Players matter.

Timing matters.

London’s sports market matters.

The preceding women’s match matters because The Hundred sells the double-header as a combined event.

The larger lesson is that the competition’s attendance challenge cannot be diagnosed by league position alone.

Our broader analysis of the 100-ball format and crowd problem argued that ticket price, identity, format, star power and repeat loyalty all interact.

Lord’s provides another piece of that puzzle.

People will still come.

The Hundred needs to understand why they come to some games more readily than others.

Final Verdict: Spirit Found Their Best Cricket After Their Season Had Already Slipped Away

There will be frustration inside London Spirit when this match is reviewed.

Not because of what went wrong.

Because of how much finally went right.

The bowling powerplay was disciplined.

The batting powerplay was fearless.

Livingstone controlled the chase.

Brevis matched him.

The target disappeared with 18 balls unused.

The Lord’s crowd responded.

This was the performance Spirit spent most of 2026 searching for.

It arrived when qualification was already gone.

Birmingham leave with the opposite feeling.

Clarke made 73.

Dickson made 51 not out.

The total reached 162.

Usman Tariq bowled 20 balls for only 13.

They still lost comfortably.

That says more about Phoenix’s season than another batting collapse would have.

Even when several things went right, they could not control the match.

For Spirit, Match 28 may become a late blueprint.

For Phoenix, it was another warning.

The Sports Encounter’s verdict: London Spirit won because they attacked the part of the game Birmingham surrendered. Their 48-run powerplay created the platform, Livingstone and Brevis turned it into a demolition, and Lord’s supplied a rare positive crowd story during a season in which The Hundred’s attendance has faced persistent scrutiny.

Fans can follow official fixtures, results and tournament information through The Hundred’s official website.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won London Spirit vs Birmingham Phoenix in Match 28 of The Hundred 2026?

London Spirit defeated Birmingham Phoenix by seven wickets at Lord’s on August 9, 2026.

What was the final score in London Spirit vs Birmingham Phoenix?

Birmingham Phoenix scored 162 for four from 100 balls. London Spirit reached 166 for three from 82 balls to win with 18 deliveries remaining.

Who was Match Hero in London Spirit vs Birmingham Phoenix?

Liam Livingstone was named Match Hero after scoring 66 from 30 balls, including seven fours and four sixes.

How many runs did Dewald Brevis score?

Brevis finished unbeaten on 55 from 31 balls. His innings included five fours and three sixes and was his maiden half-century in The Hundred.

How many runs did Joe Clarke score for Birmingham Phoenix?

Joe Clarke top-scored with 73 from 42 balls, hitting four fours and five sixes.

How did Sean Dickson perform?

Dickson made an unbeaten 51 from 28 balls with four fours and three sixes.

How quickly did Liam Livingstone reach his fifty?

Livingstone reached 50 from only 21 deliveries.

How big was the Livingstone-Brevis partnership?

Livingstone and Brevis added 103 runs for the third wicket and effectively decided the chase.

Was this London Spirit’s first win over Birmingham Phoenix?

Yes. Match commentary and historical records confirm this was London Spirit’s first men’s Hundred victory over Birmingham Phoenix since the competition began in 2021.

Was attendance low at Lord’s for London Spirit vs Birmingham Phoenix?

No credible report located by The Sports Encounter described the match as poorly attended. BBC Test Match Special instead reported a record crowd for a group-stage Hundred match at Lord’s. An exact verified attendance figure was not available in the accessible official match reports at the time of publication.

Are London Spirit eliminated from The Hundred 2026?

Yes. Spirit have eight points from seven matches and have been eliminated from playoff contention.

Are Birmingham Phoenix eliminated?

Yes. Phoenix sit bottom with four points after one win and six defeats and have been eliminated.

Who is top of The Hundred Men’s 2026 standings?

Trent Rockets lead the table with 24 points from seven matches and have already qualified for the knockout stage.

Who do London Spirit play next?

London Spirit finish their league campaign against Welsh Fire on August 12.

Who do Birmingham Phoenix play next?

Birmingham Phoenix complete their campaign against MI London at Edgbaston on August 12.